Dredging-dipper handle.



No. 674,417. Patented May 2|, l90l.

P. HOWARD. DBEDGING DIPPEB HANDLE. I v (Application fllcd 1:11.25, 1901.] (No Model.)

O o o 0, Lo I o o O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O D O O O Witnesses: v nvenl'tn 51 I BIT-i016 HpwaY'Cl p i OZ UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK HOWARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE W. H. BEARD DREDGING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DREDGlNG-DIPPER HANDLE.

SZPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 674,417, dated May 21, 1901.

Application filed January 28, 1901- Serial No. 44,998. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Dredging-Dipper Handles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in dredging apparatus, and particularly to the formation of the handle of a dredging-dipper, whether for use in an excavator on lan or in a dredge on the water.

The object of the invention is to construct a dipper-handle for the purpose mentioned in a manner such that it will endure the great strain put upon it and more effectually resist the wear produced thereon by the clamps and guides.

Dredging-dipper handles have heretofore been constructed simply from astick of clear straight-grained timber, and the severe torsional strain thereon in loading the dipper, together with the wear in theclamp and guides, has quickly weakened the handles and caused them. to break. The frequent breaking of the dipper-handles is a great source of annoyance and expense, since in a dredge of -average size the handle must be forty or more feet in length and a foot square, while for dredging in forty feet of Water it must be at least seventyfeet long and proportionately larger in cross-section. Such sticks of timber are expensive, and the breaking of one every two or three weeks rapidly cuts down the profits besides delaying the work.

The above object is attained and the speciiied objections are overcome in the dipperliaudle madein accordance with my invention, which consists in the construction and formationofadredging-dipperhandlesubstantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a dredging-dipper with a handle of my improved construction. Fig. 2 shows a cross-section thereof. Figs. 3 and 4 show cross-sections of modifications in the formation of the handle.

The handle consists, as before, of a stick of clear straight timber, (indicated at 5,) to the corners of which angle-irons havebeen added,

as shown at 6. These angle-irons may be let into the stick, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, orthey may be bolted to the surface thereof, as seen in Fig. 3. A better handle is formed, however, by letting the irons into the wood, because the shoulders in the stick against which the edges of the irons rest take some of the strain off the bolts and make the handle stifier. These angle irons may be bolted to the stick in any suitable way. That shown is considered the best way, wherein the bolts 7 are staggered with respect to each other and are riveted in countersunk holes in the irons.

Instead of four angle-irons being used two channel-irons, as 8, Fig. 4, may be employed and bolted in place in substantially the same way as the angle-irons. An added ad vantage is also derived from the use of the angle-irons or channel-ironsnamely, in their affording bettergrounds to which to secure the dipper 9 and its braces or stays 10.

When the channel-irons areused, the stick 5 may be made up of several sticks 11, as indicated in Fig. 4, whereby variations in the grain of the different sticks will cause them to reinforce one another.

Other changes than those above mentioned may be made in the formation and arrangement of parts constituting the improved handle without departing from theinvention.

The invention claimed is-- 1. A dredging-dipper handle consisting of a stick of timber reinforced along its angles by irons bolted to the stick substantially as 

